Yesterday was weird...on the eve of the eve of Christmas, Dr. C and I were forced to do something that neither one of us has done in years: see an endocrinologist. GASSSSSP. Our stupid insurance required us to see an endo, other than Dr. C, in order to pay for our new insulin pumps (ours are out of warranty). Sooooo, we saw him. I haven't seen an actual endo, other than my hubs, since 2005!! It was weird...he actually looked at my sugars, palpated my thryoid (mmm sounds dirty), and made observations about my control. Crazy. Dr. C tries to do these things, too...but I usually think he's just trying to get into my pants.
Dr. C hadn't seen an endo since he was in med school...and that endo introduced him to a fancy, new thing called "Humalog". He's been self treating ever since. He did, however, allow me to start him on a pump in 2006, and he's been a tried and true Medtronic pumper ever since. He also wears a CGM to help ward off his difficulties, both with hypo unawareness...and his nagging wife, who has actually had to deal with her anger issues with his hypos in marriage counseling. True story. Maybe I'll delve deeper into that in another post....
So, we strolled out of our appointments, prescriptions in hand, a little humbled by the experieince. So, thanks HealthFirst TPA, for being complete ASSHOLES and requiring us to seek medical counsel elsewhere. They flat out said they would continue to pay for our Rx's from Dr. C...just not a pump, since they are so expensive. Asshats. They are just mad because I wrote them a rude email offering to send them a video of Dr. C having a seizure, I'm totally nice like that.
I don't take criticism well. I know, shocker. So during my pregnancies, when my A1cs were less than 5%, and Dr. C would chime in his $.02 about my management, I would get soooooo pissed at him!! I wouldn't listen to anyone other than my perinatologist. Going to the endo yesterday made me realize what a wench I had been to MY endo, when all he was trying to do was be my doc. Being married to my endo, being a nurse educator AND working with him poses a very unique scenario for our diabetes care. Very rarely do Dr. C and I seek help outside of our own expertise. Is this good? Is this bad? We have pretty good control, and both are complication free...so are we doing ourselves a favor...or preventing a greater good from being done? We both struggle with these questions. And had we not been forced to yesterday, would probably have gone the rest of our lives without seeking care from a colleague. Is it against the law? Nope. Is it unethical...maybe a little. But, dammit...I don't want someone else telling me what I already know!!
What do you think? If you were me (and I know you wish you were...dont lie) what would you do? Would you continue to self manage? Allow Dr. C a bigger role? Or see someone else entirely? I'm actually quite curious to see what the blogosphere thinks about this sitch...
So Merry Christmas, Happy (late) Hannuhah, Happy-Merry Kwanzaa...and try to limit how many ass-dimpling sweets you consume over the next week.
Love, Nurse Kelley & the little Crumps
Hm. You ARE in an interesting situation... I think that maybe seeing an outside endo every so often (like once or twice a year, maybe?) might help give Dr. C a little more credit when he's actually acting as your doctor. And then you might also realize when he's just being your husband too.... I hope that made sense and helped a little! As a non-diabetic and single lady, I can only offer advice based on observation. :)
ReplyDeleteLOL - if it was me, I would go to someone else - even if its only every 6 months. Another (non-related) set of eyes is always a good thing.
ReplyDeleteNancy